What the evidence means
The ONS Business Insights and Conditions Survey is voluntary. The estimate covers responding businesses and excludes some industries.
BICS weighted business survey estimate.
G&G verified business evidence
UK businesses anticipating supply-chain concerns in late 2024
In late December 2024, 23% of UK businesses reported at least one supply-chain concern for the following 12 months.
23
percent
Original source
Office for National Statistics
Business insights and impact on the UK economy: 9 January 2025
The supply-chain results report 23% of businesses had at least one concern.
View original evidence
Office for National Statistics. Business insights and impact on the UK economy: 9 January 2025. 9th of January, 2025. https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/businessservices/bulletins/businessinsightsandimpactontheukeconomy/9january2025
Why this matters to UK SMEs
Supply-chain concerns affected a meaningful minority of businesses, illustrating why SMEs need visibility beyond immediate suppliers. The result is a sentiment indicator for the following year, not a count of disruptions that actually occurred.
Key breakdowns
In late December 2024, 23% of businesses reported at least one supply-chain concern for the next 12 months, three percentage points higher than late September. Among concerned businesses, 44% expected higher sourcing costs, 31% higher transport costs and 24% higher labour costs. Increased barriers to trade were the most commonly reported concern among all businesses, at 11%.
How to interpret this evidence
The headline measures anticipated concerns. Businesses could identify different or multiple impacts, and the affected-business breakdown uses a narrower denominator than the 23% headline. Concern can influence planning even when disruption does not materialise.
Limitations
The voluntary BICS is an official statistic in development and excludes some industries. Results are a dated late-December snapshot, subject to survey uncertainty and changes in question design. The release does not measure dependency depth, financial exposure, mitigation quality or realised disruption.
Practical considerations
G&G perspective: identify critical inputs, single-source dependencies, lead times and contractual price exposure. Agree warning indicators with suppliers, keep proportionate alternatives for high-impact items and test the cash, customer and delivery consequences of realistic disruption scenarios.